What Retail Salespersons earn in Madison County, IA
The median pay for Retail Salespersons in Madison County, IA is $33,430 per year, which works out to $16.07 per hour. The figure comes from the Bureau of Labor Statistics wage survey for the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan area, the labor market that Madison County, IA belongs to. Half of the workers in this occupation earn more than the median and half earn less, which makes it a sturdier yardstick than an average that a few very high earners can pull upward.
The mean wage is $35,600, which is 6.5% above the median, a sign that a group of high earners lifts the average. The survey counts about 11,000 people working in this occupation across the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan area, so the estimate rests on a substantial pool of workers. Madison County, IA has roughly 16,926 residents, according to the population figures used by the rent data.
The salary range, from entry level to top earners
Pay for Retail Salespersons in the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan area is not one number. The lowest-paid tenth of workers earn up to $27,630 a year ($13.28 an hour), while the highest-paid tenth earn $46,780 or more ($22.49 an hour). That is a gap of $19,150 between the bottom and the top of the scale. The middle half of workers falls between $29,450 at the 25th percentile and $36,710 at the 75th percentile. A top-tier earner makes 1.7 times what someone at the bottom makes, so experience, certification and employer all matter.
What the hourly rate looks like
Employers quote this occupation by the hour or by the year, so here are both: $16.07 an hour or $33,430 a year at the median for Madison County, IA. Before any deductions, that is $2,786 a month, $1,286 every two weeks and $643 each week. After taxes the same job pays $13.35 per hour of take-home income, which is the number that actually has to cover rent and groceries.
About this occupation: Retail Salespersons
The U.S. Department of Labor's O*NET database describes the work of Retail Salespersons this way: "Sell merchandise, such as furniture, motor vehicles, appliances, or apparel to consumers."
Core tasks recorded by O*NET include: "Greet customers and ascertain what each customer wants or needs"; "Maintain knowledge of current sales and promotions, policies regarding payment and exchanges, and security practices"; "Compute sales prices, total purchases, and receive and process cash or credit payment"; "Watch for and recognize security risks and thefts and know how to prevent or handle these situations".
Job outlook for Retail Salespersons
The Bureau of Labor Statistics projects national employment in this occupation to shrink from 3,998,100 jobs in 2025 to 3,984,100 in 2035, a change of -0.3%, slower than the 3.5% projected for all occupations. The projection counts 520,600 openings a year on average, including positions created by growth and positions left by workers who retire or move to another occupation; that equals 13.0% of current employment each year.
Typical entry-level education: no formal educational credential. Typical on-the-job training to reach competency: short-term on-the-job training. BLS lists a national median annual wage of $35,410 for this occupation; the Madison County, IA median of $33,430 is 5.6% below it.
How pay in Madison County, IA compares
Compared with the Iowa average
A worker in this occupation in Madison County, IA earns $1,381 more than the Iowa average of $32,049, a premium of 4.3%. Over a year that premium is worth $1,381 before tax and roughly $1,147 after tax. Within Iowa, Madison County, IA already has the highest median we track for this job.
Compared with the national average
The national employment-weighted average for Retail Salespersons is $34,080 across the contiguous United States. At $33,430, Madison County, IA pays $650 less, which is 1.9% below that benchmark. Keep in mind that a higher salary only helps if living costs do not rise faster, which is why the cost sections below matter as much as the headline number.
Where this job ranks in Madison County, IA
Among the 452 occupations with published wages in Madison County, IA, Retail Salespersons ranks number 432 by median pay, ahead of about 4% of them. The best-paying occupation we track here is General and Operations Managers at $98,780 a year, which is $65,350 more than the median for Retail Salespersons.
From gross pay to take-home pay
Three separate tax bills sit between the gross salary and the bank account: federal income tax, FICA, and state income tax. For Retail Salespersons earning the Madison County, IA median of $33,430, they add up to $5,671. The result is $27,759 of take-home pay a year ($2,313 a month), based on a single filer using the standard deduction.
Put another way, of every $100 earned, about $17 goes to taxes and $83 reaches the paycheck. The overall effective tax rate is 17.0%.
Federal income tax
After the $15,750 standard deduction, taxable income is $17,680. Federal brackets are marginal, so only the slice of income above each threshold is taxed at the higher rate; the last dollars of this salary fall in the 12% bracket. The resulting federal income tax is $1,883, an effective 5.6% of gross pay, well below the 12% marginal rate because the lower brackets are cheaper.
Social Security and Medicare (FICA)
Payroll taxes are a flat percentage of wages. Social Security takes 6.2% up to a wage base of $176,100, which costs $2,073 on this salary. Medicare takes 1.45%, or $485. FICA totals $2,557, which is 7.7% of gross pay.
State income tax in Iowa
Iowa income tax on this salary is $1,230 a year, or 3.7% of gross pay, after the state's own deductions and exemptions are applied. That is 65% of the federal income tax bill, and it comes out to $103 a month. Local taxes such as county or city income taxes are not included, so a few jurisdictions may withhold slightly more.
A cross-check with IRS data for Madison County, IA
IRS Statistics of Income data for Madison County, IA show an average adjusted gross income of $94,383 per return and an average effective federal income tax rate of 12.1% across all filers. Filers in the $25,000 to under $50,000 bracket, where this salary falls, paid an average of 5.4%, compared with the 5.6% estimated here for a single filer taking the standard deduction. Gaps between the two reflect filing status, dependents, credits and other income, none of which a single-person wage estimate includes.
Cost of living in Madison County, IA
Take-home pay only means something next to what life costs. We price four basics for one adult in Madison County, IA: a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline. All of them are converted to annual figures first, then compared with the $27,759 of take-home pay.
Rent
Housing is the largest line in most budgets. For Madison County, IA, HUD sets the Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom unit at $1,145 a month ($13,740 a year), and at $1,360 for two bedrooms. For Retail Salespersons, a one-bedroom absorbs 49.5% of take-home pay and 41.1% of gross pay.
Food
The USDA Thrifty Food Plan (August 2026) puts the cost of a nutritious home-cooked diet for an adult at about $3,436 a year, which is $286 a month or $66.07 a week. That equals 10.3% of gross pay for Retail Salespersons in Madison County, IA. It is a thrifty budget with no restaurant meals, so treat it as a floor.
Energy and gasoline
Using Iowa residential prices from the Energy Information Administration and national household averages for consumption, electricity costs about $1,416 a year and other home energy such as natural gas about $395, for $1,811 in total. Gasoline in Iowa averages $3.12 per gallon; at about 463 gallons a year (11,106 miles at 24 miles per gallon) fuel adds $1,445.
What is left over
Rent, food, energy and gasoline cost $20,432 a year in Madison County, IA. Subtract that from $27,759 of take-home pay and $7,327 remains, which is $611 a month of breathing room. That margin equals 21.9% of gross pay, a comfortable cushion by common budgeting rules.
Local housing and commute data for Madison County, IA
The budget above covers rent, food, energy and gasoline. Three more local facts shape what a paycheck buys in Madison County, IA: property taxes, housing prices and the daily commute. The figures below are exact U.S. Census Bureau American Community Survey 2020-2024 5-year estimates for Madison County, IA, set beside the Iowa and national medians.
Property taxes in Madison County, IA
Homeowners in Madison County, IA pay a median of $3,624 a year in real estate taxes, 25% above the Iowa median of $2,897 and 16% above the U.S. median of $3,119. Against a median home value of $245,100, the median tax bill is 1.48% of that value (the ratio of the two county medians). For a worker paid the local Retail Salespersons median of $33,430, a tax bill of that size would equal 10.8% of gross pay, which matters for anyone planning to buy rather than rent.
Rents, home prices and household income in Madison County, IA
Renters in Madison County, IA pay a median gross rent of $1,036 a month in the Census survey, 7% above the Iowa median of $972. HUD's Fair Market Rent for a one-bedroom apartment, which this site uses in the budget, is $1,145 a month; the two measures differ because the Census figure covers units of every size that renters already occupy, while the HUD figure is a one-bedroom benchmark. The median value of an owner-occupied home is $245,100, 18% above the Iowa median of $208,000. Median household income is $90,855, 21% above the Iowa median of $75,059, so a year of one-bedroom Fair Market Rent equals 15.1% of that income.
Commuting in Madison County, IA
Workers in Madison County, IA who travel to a workplace spend an average of 28.7 minutes each way, 45% above the Iowa average of 19.8. For someone who commutes five days a week, that is 4.8 hours of round-trip travel every week, a cost the budget does not price. 17.4% of workers in Madison County, IA work from home, compared with 15.1% nationally, which removes the commute for them.
Can Retail Salespersons afford to live in Madison County, IA?
The 30% rent guideline
A common rule of thumb says rent should stay under 30% of gross income. For a gross salary of $33,430 that ceiling is $836 a month. The one-bedroom Fair Market Rent of $1,145 is $309 over it, so rent breaks the guideline. Put as a wage, covering a one-bedroom at the 30% guideline takes $22.02 an hour; the median for Retail Salespersons is $16.07, which is 27% below that mark. Another way to see it: at $13.35 of take-home pay an hour, a one-bedroom takes about 19.8 working hours every week.
Splitting a two-bedroom
Sharing a two-bedroom at $1,360 a month means $680 each. Compared with renting a one-bedroom alone, that saves $5,580 a year. With a roommate, the yearly margin after the basics becomes $12,907.
How fast you can save
At $611 a month of margin, building a $10,000 emergency fund would take about 17 months. Setting aside half of the margin stretches the same goal to about 34 months. These figures ignore interest, raises and any spending beyond the four basics.
Frequently asked questions about Retail Salespersons pay in Madison County, IA
How much do Retail Salespersons make per hour in Madison County, IA?
The median is $16.07 per hour, based on $33,430 a year over 2,080 hours. Hourly pay runs from about $13.28 at the 10th percentile to $22.49 at the 90th percentile.
How much do Retail Salespersons take home after taxes in Madison County, IA?
After federal income tax, FICA and state income tax, the median salary of $33,430 becomes $27,759 a year. That is $2,313 a month, $1,068 every two weeks or $534 a week.
How much tax do Retail Salespersons pay in Madison County, IA?
Total taxes are $5,671 a year, an effective rate of 17.0%: $1,883 federal income tax, $2,557 FICA and $1,230 Iowa income tax.
Do Retail Salespersons earn more in Madison County, IA than elsewhere in Iowa?
Yes. The local median of $33,430 is +4.3% versus the Iowa average of $32,049, a difference of $1,381 a year.
Can Retail Salespersons afford a one-bedroom apartment in Madison County, IA?
A one-bedroom costs $1,145 a month against take-home pay of $2,313, which is 49.5% of take-home pay. That does not meet the 30%-of-gross guideline, which allows up to $836 a month.
What is the monthly budget margin for Retail Salespersons in Madison County, IA?
About $611 a month ($7,327 a year) remains after a one-bedroom apartment, food, home energy and gasoline, which together cost $20,432 a year.
What hourly wage covers a one-bedroom in Madison County, IA at the 30% guideline?
$22.02 an hour for a full-time schedule, calculated as the $13,740 annual rent divided by 0.30 and by 2,080 hours. The median for Retail Salespersons is $16.07.
How we calculated these numbers
Wages are May 2025 medians from the Bureau of Labor Statistics Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics survey for the Des Moines-West Des Moines, IA metropolitan area; hourly-only values are annualized at 2,080 hours. Rents are HUD Fair Market Rents, food costs come from the USDA Thrifty Food Plan, and energy prices come from the Energy Information Administration. County-level tax statistics come from the IRS Statistics of Income.
Taxes use tax-year 2025 federal brackets, FICA rates and the Iowa rules for a single filer with wage income only. Figures are estimates for planning and comparison, not tax or financial advice, and they exclude local income taxes, benefits, retirement contributions and individual circumstances.